EVALUATION OF ORGANOLEPTIC, PROXIMATE PARAMETERS AND ANALYSIS OF NUTRITIONAL COMPOSITION OF FIVE WILD WEEDS: A SEARCH FOR LOW-COST NUTRACEUTICALS

Medicinal plants are the predominant source of phytochemicals and nutraceuticals, and it is used for the treatment of many diseases for its high effectiveness, low cost, and wide availability. In the current research study five, commonly used ethnomedicinal weeds of West Bengal, and India namely; Heliotropium indicum, Tridax procumbens, Cleome rutidosperma, Commmelina benghalensis, and Euphorbia hirta were used for analyzing their nutritional potentiality measurements. Different solvents extracts of leaves of the plants were used for detecting and quantifying the essential phytochemicals and nutraceuticals. For the quantitative study, UV-Vis spectrophotometer and titration method was used. Mineral content analysis was done by atomic absorption spectrophotometer followed by acid digestion method. To the best of our knowledge, the comparative evaluations of organoleptic, proximate characteristics, and nutritional components of these herbs are reported first. FT-IR study of leaves aqueous extracts reveals different types of functional groups. Among the studied plants, EH leaves extracts showed the highest amount of presence of polysaccharides, amino acids, ascorbic acids, thiamine, and riboflavin. CR leaves extracts showed the maximum amount of anthocyanin and lipid presence. All the leaves showed a good amount of mineral presence. The investigation concluded that Euphorbia hirta possesses significant content of phytochemicals and nutraceuticals in comparison with the other four plants.